Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) is a process where “state officials automatically register eligible citizens using reliable information from other government lists. All would be given the chance to “opt out” or decline registration”. This policy proposal seeks to resolve the issue of having a barrier at the polls.

On June 20, in a special election for Georgia’s 6th house district Karen Handel defeated Jon Ossoff, ending a campaign that had started almost the moment the 2016 campaign had ended. The whole country seemed to be paying attention to the first big contested race in the Trump era, which was portrayed as a precursor to 2018 congressional elections. In the end, the race was negative and grueling--with one of the final ads associating Ossoff with an “unhinged left” that endorsed the shooting of Representative Steve Scalise. But it didn’t have to be.

As the Pence-Kobach commission begins in the heart of the nation’s capital, Americans’ trust in their democracy is at an all-time low and has been declining in the past decade. As of May 2017, only a fifth of the American population believed “they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right”. This bleary statistic both translates and is caused by a lack of engagement in the democratic process, as American citizens slowly stop engaging in institutions that do not seek to represent or include them. This is why states and non-partisan organizations throughout the country, like FairVote, are finding ways to engage voters in American democracy to restore their trust in the electoral system.

Yesterday, July 20, Ram Nath Kovind was elected as the 14th President of India. President Kovind received 65.65% of the total vote, which secured a massive margin over his rival Meira Kumar who received 34.35%.The winner is selected through a system known as proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote (STV). Proportional representation ensures equal representation to all groups because it allows voters to mark their voting preferences rather than choosing just one candidate. Votes are never wasted because if your first choice candidate does not win, your second choice is counted and it’s an instant run off until someone wins a majority of the votes.

Hello everyone! My name is Ruben Lebron and I like to say that I come from both the heartland in Kansas - where I lived the past five years and which significantly shaped me - and also from my beloved island of Puerto Rico where I grew up. I am an Economist and Political Scientist and I am pursuing a Master’s degree in Strategic Governance and Political Communication at The George Washington University.

Our Democracy is fundamentally broken by a dangerous new era of fierce partisan divisions. The current system leaves many voters voiceless in the political process and depresses voter participation. We are left with a partisan division that may be hard to fix - but, it’s not impossible.

Growing up as the son of journalists, I was raised on a healthy diet of political arguments at the kitchen table. My passion for public policy came with a side of mashed potatoes. Despite my many attempts to change the topic to the playoff hopes of the Boston Red Sox, I could not successfully escape the “more important” issues facing our nation.

On May 27, 2017, Andrew Scheer, the Member of Parliament for Regina-qu’Appelle was elected as leader for the Canadian Conservative Party at the end of a thirteen month-long leadership race. The format of the leadership contest, ranked-choice voting (RCV), allowed a consensus candidate to emerge out of many controversial candidacies in order to represent a broad base of Conservatives. Scheer’s predecessor, Prime Minister Stephen Harper resigned following the Conservative Party loss in the 2015 federal elections. Following his resignation, the party appointed Rona Ambrose, a caucus member and former Minister of Health, Environment and Public Works, as interim leader until the permanent leader was appointed by the party’s members in a leadership contest.

Hello There! I’m Myeisha. My interest in politics began during my sophomore year of college when I was a Casework Intern for Senator Richard Blumenthal. This is where my passion for public service and advocacy emerged. I truly felt as though I was making a difference by communicating with government agencies on behalf of constituents.

When I was 14, I had my first experience with ranked choice voting (RCV). I was a freshman in high school in San Francisco, and we used it to elect my student body representatives. Given the city of San Francisco had been using RCV for every city election for nearly nine years, I was excited to be using it for our school elections. I saw it as a fair system that ensured the winners would have to appeal to larger portions of the student body in order to get elected. At the time, I was sure it would only be a few years before RCV was adopted in cities and states all over the US.